NUFORC Sighting 55253

Occurred: 1999-10-27 19:30 Local - Approximate
Reported: 2007-02-11 19:29 Pacific
Duration: 5 minutes
No of observers: 3

Location: Austin, TX, USA

Shape: Oval
Characteristics: Lights on object

A man and his two kids see a clear UFO less than a mile away during an autumn evening in Austin, Texas. Dazed deer present.

I’ve had 6 sightings in my life, but none as good as this one.

I had recently sold my car, where I kept a nice set of binoculars for the sole purpose of looking at a UFO closer if and when I saw another one, and was now driving the family van with my two kids on our way to get gasoline, and then to the store.

This particular evening was fairly clear, and, as I was driving down a slightly winding street to get onto a major street, I saw an orange object just above the tree line that, during the brief moment I had to see it, first made me think of the moon when it's low on the horizon and has an orange glow, the way it looks during an lunar eclipse. However, I felt that the moon should be a bigger, and also that it wasn't in the direction of the sky where the moon usually is, so I looped around the other neighborhood streets and came back up the same street, slower, to get a second look.

Sure enough, when I saw it again, there was no mistaking it, it was definitely a hovering UFO similar to one whose picture was taken on December 21, 1994, by Carlos Diaz, so I turned off my headlights, came to a stop where I had the best view, lowered the windows, and turned off the van.

Believe me when I tell you that based on the terrain of this area, even though it's surrounded by houses, businesses, a high school, and a very busy major street, where this UFO was hovering was not observable except for about 50 yards on this one street where I was parked.

I told my kids to look at the object, and told them it was a spaceship. They were 3 and 5 years old at the time, and though innocent, they were very interested in hearing about a real spaceship, especially because they were fans of the movie Toy Story.

The object was not a thin disk or cigar shaped. Honestly, it looked a lot more like a slightly squashed lemon, except with two "nipples" on either side instead of a stem on one side and a nipple on the other. It glowed a uniform orange, and it had white beacon lights, one on top, and one on the bottom, across its perpendicular axis. It had a row of very small white lights across its horizontal axis, dividing the craft equally above and below. The beacon lights were blinking about 3 times per second but not in sync with each other. The object was about 3 stories off the ground, and less than a mile away from us, but I really can't estimate the exact distance. I would say somewhere between half a mile and a mile. I could not make out any more detail, and believe me; I REALLY missed not having my binoculars that day.

I had a red laser pointer on me that I use at work, and my son asked me to point it at the object, but I ignored him. He happened to have a flashlight that he'd gotten recently in his pocket, so before I knew it, he had taken it out and turned it on to point it at "them". I moved his arm down, gently, but he could see I was being cautious. He asked why I didn't want to signal them, and I said that I wasn't sure it was a good idea. In my mind, I was thinking, "I don't know if they are good or bad, and I don't want to inadvertently volunteer my kids to become regular abductees." I was also thinking, "Man, if only my kids weren't here, I'd get out of this van and run to get a closer look, but I'm trapped under these circumstances." Anyway, to make a long story short, we watched this object for at least 3 minutes, and it was just hovering there, so in my impatience to get a closer look, I remembered a business parking lot that was adjacent (left of the object from our point of view) to the forest that this object was hovering over, and I thought, "If I time the signal light properly, I can quickly race the van to make the left turn, go down a block or two into the business parking lot, and then drive to the edge of the parking lot closest to the object. Perhaps from there I can see it closer through the trees", so without hesitating much, that's what I did. As I raced the van and the trees blocked my view, the last glimpse I caught of the object was that it was still hovering in the same place, so I was very hopeful of being able to get a better look.

However, when I got into the business parking lot, I found a big surprise - there were no less than 50, and probably more like 100 deer in the parking lot, and they were in a dazed, almost frozen state. They moved very little, to the point that I had to steer around a few of them to avoid hitting them. That in itself was remarkable, and only reinforced my belief that this object was not human-made, that the occupants had somehow put these deer in a trance.

After finally getting to where I thought I could see the object, I was disappointed to find out that I could not see it anywhere, so as fast as I could, again avoiding the deer in my way, I worked my way back to where I was before, and unfortunately the object was now gone.

After this event, my son drew a picture of what he saw, and it was essentially what I saw. Both my children still remember the event, even though my daughter was so young, perhaps because we've retold it several times, but I certainly don't want them to forget it.

((ADDENDUM FROM WITNESS))

Mr. Davenport,

I have the drawing somewhere in a box in the attic or inside a book, but I can't remember where exactly, and it's been over 7 years now since the incident. If I ever run into it, I'll scan it and send it to you.

My apologies for not having kept better records. I considered contacting an investigator from MUFON way back then to check woods below where the object was hovering, but I never did. I was no willing to put my children in any type of danger.

I still keep my eye out in the sky, so if I ever catch anything again, I'll also send it your way.

((name deleted))

((END ADDENDUM))

NUFORC Note:

Witness indicates that the date of the sighting is approximate. PD

Posted 2007-02-24